i met you just after you started a new diet
every day you would eat only that which was related to a food memory
sometimes you would tell me the story behind your diet for the day
for example there was the day you ate a box of freddo frogs
and you told me that it was a reminder of the time you stole a box of
freddo frogs from the school cafeteria
and ate them one by one on the school bus home
other times it was easy for me to guess the memory
for example there was the time i came home and the apartment looked
like a 10 year old’s birthday and we ate rainbow cake for dinner
you also ate things that you didn’t distinctly remember
but that your parents told you they had fed you
like sweet potato mash or fish boiled in milk
i learnt a lot about your childhood by watching you eat
lots of pasta, mangoes, almonds, not much meat
we also went to quite a few average suburban restaurants
many of them had changed cuisine or ownership since you were a child
but we’d eat there anyway, which made no sense to me
mostly the new diet was healthy and conservative
but on the days when your memories
led you back to what you had once desired
the eating could become extreme and manic
there were times when you became secretive about your memories
like the day you cut up the pillow cases
into tiny pieces and swallowed them
when i asked what memory you had of eating pillow cases you replied
what do you care? this new diet is doing wonders
i look and i feel fantastic i bounce right out of bed